Monday, May 30, 2005

You may have noticed that I have posted a pattern (yes I know...finally...haha)If you click on the pattern that is what you get, the pictures don't come up, as Blogger sees them as a seperate post, so I have linked to pictures and diagrams from the pattern post ( complicated) the best thing to do is to click on "my projects" which will take you to the projects page, all of the photos are there. I will post the machine knit sock pattern when I have worked out the numbers for the different sizes...bear with me.

Feeling much better this week, that 'flu is a nasty wee blighter, hopefully there will be people at work today, when I left on friday evening they didn't look good at all.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Yesterday started as a good day, Flash did the housework, I designed a wee baby cardi for Maisie ( the neice to be) ….my sister wanted to call her Madeleine…Maddie…but the surname is Maxwell…mad max….my Mama and I think it is great, we love it…but my sister has reconsidered…I say be brave!

Anyway, so went to SSK, which was wonderful as usual, Alison brought beautiful yarn from Marta’s for us to fondle, and “Loop de Loop” which had some gorgeous patterns, I have been resisting the urge to buy it, but I don’t think I can hold out much longer, there was one cabled jacket in particular which I have been dreaming of since…Lara has designed the absolute last word in cute as baby bootees, they look like little duck feet, or flippers, too too cute.

Met Flash in the Irish pub, where he had commandeered the big table, and had been getting the hairy eyeball from a big group seated at the small table, luckily some acquaintances turned up, so he didn’t look like a loner, so, I did it…I watched rugby…it wasn’t too bad, better than the last game I had to sit through, which was so stop start I felt like I was watching middle aged men replicating battles with plastic armies…anyway…”we” won…which was weird, cos Canterbury won…and I am from Auckland…but I suppose when away from home, Kiwis is Kiwis!I was rewarded with Indian takeout for my trials, arrived home, started watching a movie, ate our dinner, settled back with a glass of red, when…squeal…thunk…outside…I grabbed the phone and ran to the patio, a lady lay still in the centre of the intersection of the busiest road in Sydney, cars hurtled past, I called the ambulance, as people started to make their way to her, the cars did not stop, just kept speeding past her body.I didn’t go down, we are lucky in Camperdown that there are trained medical professionals every where, the ambulance took 12 minutes, the police arrived first, they shut the road down for hours, took statements, photographed the scene and the cars, the poor woman lay there alone for a couple of hours…Blaise said “someone should be sitting with her” is it the Maori influence, the importance of the Tangi? Is it our family belief, which says the deceased should lie in the home until the burial?Finally, thankfully they took her away, then hosed the road, I feel for the fireman who had that job, I feel for all of the police, ambulance and fire staff who deal with this every day.The lady was apparently crossing legally, the lights are set up so that turning cars think they have right of way, many don’t even look when they turn, and my kids cross there every day. Flash said “this wouldn’t happen outside our house in Waihi” and he is right, but it doesn’t change anything, we have to keep trying to make our world safer, help people to think about one another, I am looking forward to the release of the book “Affluenza”, it puts a name to the feeling I have had, that society as a whole is sick with greed and want, that marketing men from New York and London are trying to have more influence in my children’s lives than me, that I am grateful they spent their early years living in quiet idyllic innocence, and I can only hope that will stand them in good stead.

As I have been sitting here writing this, there was another squeal, crash…a nose to tail…people screaming at each other, and as I looked out I saw a yellow circle, spray painted in the middle of that busy intersection, a life lost, and the stupidity that led to that tragedy continues.

we (Flash and I) thought long and hard about our phone connection...the pain of getting the phone and internet connected has dimmed with time, and we had forgotten the abject horror inherent in dealing with "teleservices providers" in Oz, and so we decided with light hearts and not a brain between us...to enter a Telstra shop...dumb dumb dumb.

We had thought...(erroneously, I have now discovered) that since we were paying Optus $40 a week to connect us via Telstra to Bigpond (owned by telstra) that if we took out the middleman we would have cheaper bills and faster internet....it has not worked out that way....oh no, not by a long looong shot, no no no.

We have higher bills, despite the promises made by the telstra "dude"because we make weekly calls to NZ ( we told him that) we have slower internet 28.8 compared to 38...no one cane explain that...but of course it is my laptop, my connection, my setup, my system....when i talk to them to ask them to explain, i keep expecting one of them to just start going "yeah but yeah but yeah" like the teenage girl on "Little Britain"

and I've been sickeveryone keeps telling me its the 'flu and I should stay home.I'm going to the Dr for a second opinion.

and all you machine knitters ( who are still waiting for the manly vest pattern....(yeah but yeah but yeah but yeah) just wait a bit longer, and I have been a bit maniacal with machine knitted socks of late, so grab all of your sock wool, ( give 3 or 4 balls to a good friend for safekeeping...cos you want a bit to hand knit with....cos believe me...machine knit socks are very addictive) and I will post a pattern or two

fingers crossed that this post goes thru, it has taken me an hour to navigate blogger ( not bloggers fault)

Sunday, May 15, 2005

no pics I am afraid, and blogger is having some kind of fit, so I'll make this short.

I am spending a lot of quality time with my sock knitting, felt inspired by socks on display at SSK, and have finished the second of Holly's Colori socks, am now making her a shorter pair in Opal lollipop...which I bought in Oz for $23.95, and from NZ for $13.95...whats going on!!! So in the interests of saving some money ( to spend on more yarn) here is where you can get it cheap. It is not on the website, so email first to see if they have it in stock, or get an NZ rellie to go into one of their shops.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Thank you , thank you!Blaise and I picked up my parcel from the super, and brought it upstairs, where it sat on the bench waiting until we had finished all the little coming home chores, so that we could then sit down and give it the attention it deserved.

I noticed the name on the front so, I know your name but I don't know who you are!!! so tell me quick.

I took my time, enjoying the process, the anticipation, and the gifts are wonderful, I have wanted to try the bamboo yarn for ages, and it is just the perfect shade for me, the baking chips...yippee my family thank you! because they know that I will be baking soon :-), the darling wee tape measure...everthing gorgeous...I am taking to my bed when I finish this post, with the magazine and salt water taffy...what a way to de-stress.

This has been my first secret pal round, it is a lovely idea, Blaise and Flash have helped me choose gifts for my giftee, and enjoyed watching me open the gifts from my giftor, it has been a lovely experience for all of us.

Friday, May 06, 2005

my mate Jase came over for dinner last night and told me all about the jumper he bought from the op-shop, a big thick knit, which is all finished but for the side seams...he wanted me to show him how to sew up...that all went by the board when the wine and kiwi music cds came out...but maybe we''ll make a knitter out of him yet!

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

well, this is it, the thick/thin handpainted, handspun, handfelted yarn from Orange, there wasn't enough for a jumper, so I made Blaise a scarf, and sad as it sounds...garter st seemed like the best vehicle for the yarn, Blaise is very happy, and hopefully the weather will cool (ever so slightly)so that she can wear it. The yarn was lovely to work with, quite elastic, and just what i needed when my brain was working overtime.

I now have the Hawthorne chunky to knit now ( chose it for the same reason...total and utter mind numbingness) it looks like yet another scarf is on the books, I'm considering a big cable of some sort...

My Secret pal is teasing me with photos...I am in awe that she has chosen to continue,even though I live close to the end of the earth, and the postage must be prohibitive...I can't wait to find out who she is!!

2 days down, 4 to go...I'm looking down the barrel of a six day week...have been knitting on mindless projects ( will elucidate later) as am too braindead to do anything else!

Secret pal 4 is over so I can reveal the person I have been pal to...(drum roll please) this is Tanya, (who guessed me!) she lives in Florida ( so not much call for wool yarns!) and has more movie knowledge in her little toe than I have ever had! ( her site has been useful, I have been able to steal comments about movies like "Sideways" that I never would have thought of for myself...kudos Tanya!) I enjoyed the secret pal process...(except for having a package sent back by customs) so a big THANK-YOU to the gracious souls who did all of the hard work.

Found this while wandering the net this a.m. I have to get me some of these stickers, parking is fascinating near where I live! you wonder what goes through people's minds, must take my camera out with me to work one morning.

Monday, May 02, 2005

I like my needle case, even with it's marker pen dots!I used calico for the lining, and love the blue purple of the outside. I have already dubbed this my proto-type, as I have worked out lots of innovations for my next one, to suit me better...and I have already ordered the fabric, and some wine fabric for a case for Holly...just in case I run out of things to do ...yeah sure...

Sunday, May 01, 2005

have finally finished the short row scarf in Noro Silk garden, used 2.5 balls as I wanted a scarf that I can loop ( as you can see by the pictures...cringe...) I fulled it very very slightly, by washing in the machine on hot with a bit of Woolwash for about 5 minutes, then through the rinse cycle and dried to just damp in the dryer with a dry towel. I then laid it on a couple of dry towels on the floor to dry overnight. The washing made the silkgarden considerably softer.